Death Knell

Ziling had just entered the Small Courtyard when a flute melody rang out.

Inside the Small Courtyard, Li Fan held the Jade Flute and began to play.

The Jade Flute, crafted from some kind of unknown precious jade, was translucent and flawless, as white as clouds in the heavens. Two ancient characters in an unusual script were engraved on it: "Divine Sound."

The clear, lilting notes rang out one after another.

Li Fan wanted to make the other party back down, so he played a tune of mighty rivers surging onward!

Nan Feng's beautiful eyes widened in shock. She stared at Li Fan, absorbing the sound of his flute.

All forms of music shared the same principles, and the flute's melody could inspire her playing on the zither as well.

In that moment, she clearly felt as if she were a tiny boat, swept along by endless rivers, rising and falling without cease as towering waves surged skyward and the waters roared!

The great river flowed east, washing away all those legendary figures of the ages!

The raging waves crashed against the shore, sending up thousands of heaps of snow!

The grand, majestic scene left her utterly entranced.

In the courtyard, the fish had fallen still and the chickens crouched in hiding. The large, red peaches on the Immortal Peach Tree shone with dazzling brilliance, while every leaf in the vegetable patch rose and fell with the flute's melody!

One note rang out, and all creation joined in harmony!

Outside the Small Courtyard.

Tie Ming stood dazed, his mouth agape. He looked as if some being had possessed him, and the Iron Flute in his hand clattered to the ground.

"The ultimate sound, the ultimate sound..."

Tie Ming murmured. He could clearly feel that the flute's melody had unfolded an entire world. In that world, the seas churned and the oceans roared in fury, while he himself was nothing more than the most insignificant of waves.

The flute melody from within the Small Courtyard suddenly changed. The waves whipped up by the gale came crashing down, and in an instant, heaven and earth fell silent, as calm as a lake after a storm.

Every last wave vanished.

At that very moment, Tie Ming's body suddenly grew insubstantial!

He gradually disappeared, from his feet to his head, until nothing was left. No one knew where he had gone.

Only an Iron Flute remained where he had stood, whistling mournfully in the wind.

Li Fan's flute had fallen silent.

"No... No, Master! Master!"

Zhu Xin trembled. She stared at the scene in disbelief, as if she had seen a ghost, and called out to Supreme Being Tie Ming, but there was no response.

"Senior Brother, what happened? What on earth happened?"

Zhu Xin looked at Ao Ming in terror.

Ao Ming's lips had gone dry, and his whole body trembled faintly. "Supreme Being Tie Ming... has merged with the Dao. He has merged with the Dao!"

Merged with the Dao!

Zhu Xin was struck dumb.

Merging with the Dao... meant vanishing from this world completely.

But wasn't that something that only happened to Supreme Beings whose lifespans had run out and who could no longer make a breakthrough? Supreme Being Tie Ming was clearly in his prime, with a bright future ahead of him. He had even been hailed as one of the Three Absolutes Holy Land's possible future immortals...

Yet now he had merged with the Dao, all because of a single tune played by some unknown being in this Small Courtyard.

"What kind of person is hiding here? Two of the Holy Land's Supreme Beings came, and one went mad while the other merged with the Dao..."

Ao Ming murmured, then immediately turned and left.

He did not linger for a moment!

"Quick, run!"

That was all he said before he took off at a run!

"Senior Brother, wait for me, wait for me..."

Zhu Xin was frightened too and hurried after him. They didn't even dare pick up Tie Ming's Iron Flute...

Inside the Small Courtyard.

"They should be gone by now, right?"

Li Fan smiled and put away the Jade Flute.

Nan Feng was still immersed in a state of enlightenment, unable to pull herself out of it for the moment.

Ziling went to open the courtyard gate, only to find that Tie Ming and the others had disappeared. An Iron Flute had been left behind.

She paused.

What was going on?

That Iron Flute was Supreme Being Tie Ming's Supreme Being artifact. Usually, where the person went, the flute went too. How could he have left his Supreme Being artifact here?

Could it be... could Tie Ming be dead?

A bold thought flashed through her mind!

If that were true, it was terrifying. From such a great distance, Senior Li had killed a Supreme Being without a trace with a single tune...

But then she remembered that Senior Li had driven Supreme Being Shi Tai, who had inherited the Three Absolutes Immortal's teachings, insane with nothing but a piece of calligraphy. Suddenly, she felt that this might not be impossible after all!

She went over, picked up Supreme Being Shi Tai's Iron Flute, and carried it back into the Small Courtyard.

"Senior, they're all gone. This is the flute Shi Tai left behind."

She respectfully offered it to Li Fan.

In her eyes, this was only right: it was Li Fan's spoils of war.

Li Fan turned to look, curious about how different the flutes used by cultivators might be.

He took it and glanced at it, then immediately shook his head.

"The material's too poor, and it's shoddily made. Toss it in the trash—"

He said it outright.

It was far too poor.

Even the things the system had given him were better than this.

The flute used by a cultivator—and its owner was an elder of the music-lovers' association. This was the best they could do?

No wonder Nan Feng and Ziling had run off. There was no future in following a sect like that.

Nan Feng and Ziling, however, wore complicated expressions.

The flute was Supreme Being Tie Ming's Dustless Flute, a true Supreme Being artifact. If it had appeared in the outside world, it would have caused an enormous uproar. Countless people would have fought tooth and nail to get their hands on it.

Yet in Senior Li's eyes, it was only fit for the trash!

"Yes... Teacher."

Ziling promptly tossed the Iron Flute into the nearby bin.

"Tea... Teacher, with something this serious happening in the Cangli Mountain Range, what... should we do?"

Then Nan Feng asked hesitantly.

Now she wasn't sure whether her teacher had caused the upheaval in the Cangli Mountain Range...

After all, when the mountains collapsed, only this Small Mountain Village had remained unharmed.

Clearly, it was all because Li Fan lived here.

If not for Li Fan, this Small Mountain Village would have been reduced to dust long ago, and the villagers would never have escaped the disaster.

Li Fan sighed. "Let's wait—"

"For now, don't go out. It's too chaotic."

He shook his head.

From what he knew about earthquakes, there were usually plenty of aftershocks!

Since this Small Mountain Village had happened to escape the quake zone, staying here was the safest option.

At his words, Nan Feng and Ziling looked even more troubled.

Even Senior Li said it was chaotic... What great upheaval was about to unfold in the Cangli Mountain Range?

At that moment.

Ao Ming and Zhu Xin fled all the way out of the village. Only when they were far away did they finally stop.

"What do we do? What are we going to do now...?"

Zhu Xin asked in panic.

Two Supreme Beings—one had gone mad, and the other had merged with the Dao...

Once word got back, the Three Absolutes Holy Land would be turned upside down...

"Forget it. We have to inform the Holy Land right now!"

"Tell the Holy Land to bring its immortal artifact. I refuse to believe that Ziling and Nan Feng, those two wicked women, have anyone left who can protect them!"

Ao Ming spoke with a dark expression and immediately crushed a jade talisman!

A jade talisman connected to the Three Absolutes Holy Land!

A curtain of light appeared before them, and a figure could just barely be made out within it.

"What is it?"

A commanding voice rang out.

"Reporting to the Grand Elder, Nan Feng and Ziling, those two traitors, have turned against the sect and joined another. They also caused Supreme Being Tie Ming to merge with the Dao, while Supreme Being Shi Tai's whereabouts are unknown!"

"I implore the Grand Elder to send aid at once, slay the traitors, and avenge our great loss!"

Ao Ming spoke in a low voice.

On the other side of the curtain of light, the imposing figure seemed to pause for a moment, then vanished.

"Senior Brother, what..." Zhu Xin asked, puzzled.

"The two Supreme Beings have appeared. The sect must be conferring! Just wait!" Ao Ming said grimly.

At that moment.

In the Central Province.

Within a Blessed Land.

Mountains loomed majestically, and the air was extraordinary. The disciples of this Holy Land were all exceptionally talented.

Someone painted atop a mountain, and as the brush swept across the page, wind sprang up around it.

Someone played a zither by the lake, and waterbirds danced to the music.

A group of Sword Cultivators stood respectfully watching a middle-aged man write. As his brush touched down, Sword Qi suddenly burst forth!

It was a place of peace and tranquility, truly a sacred ground for cultivation.

But just then, the hurried, resounding toll of a bell rang out, shaking the entire Three Absolutes Holy Land.

In an instant, all the cultivators turned pale!

"What's going on... What is that sound?"

"The Death Knell... The Death Knell... It's the Death Knell for a Supreme Being!"

"What!? Has a Supreme Being fallen in our Three Absolutes Holy Land?! How is that possible? What happened?"

In an instant, the paper of the scholar painting on the mountain peak tore.

The zither strings of the person playing by the lake snapped, and several dancing waterbirds exploded into clouds of blood mist.

In the forest, the middle-aged man couldn't finish the final stroke of his calligraphy. His brush snapped.

Everyone in the Three Absolutes Holy Land stared in shock and disbelief toward the main hall!

Everyone knew... something terrible had happened!